Author: alpha-user

I have been to too many conferences, webinars, panels, workshops and events that lament the lack of diversity in the environmental movement. What they don’t often understand is that it is not enough to bring kids of color into nature and hope that they will just connect.

Their families need to be the ones bringing them as research shows that positive direct experience in the out-of-doors AND being taken into the outdoors by a parent, grandparent, or trusted guardian are the two factors that most contribute to youth developing a connection to nature. However, costs, access to transportation, and other barriers prevent youth and their families from low-income communities of color like Oakland from gaining the educational, social, and emotional benefits of nature-based experiences.

And with Rose Foundation’s support, we offered our VERY FIRST COMMUNITY FIELD TRIP to Muir Woods National Monument in November.

Any family in our local community could sign up to join the trip, where we learned about the history of the Park, the National Park’s Centennial, and its local flora and fauna. We even helped families of 5th graders obtain their free annual National Parks pass.

The best part, however, was taking holiday photos for all the families. A memento to remember and cement that positive experience in nature with the ones they loved most. Thank you Peter Rosos of 2812 Photography and Olivia Destandau!

Click here to check out all the photos (even the rain couldn’t dampen their smiles), warmest holiday wishes, and a thank you for all of your support of ANV!

(2) Personalize you page and your connection to ANV – why do you love about ANV and what are you going to do to help raise funds for ANV? Will you run a marathon? Will you host a dinner? Or will you just ask your friends and family to give generously to something you love? Or click on one of the other fundraisers’ pages here, here, or here to see how they are standing with ANV.

(3) Use the social media “Share” button to tell your networks about your fundraising campaign and how you need their support to reach your goal. Call and email friends and family and be sure to share the summary from your page and the link to donate.

ANV is proud to announce they will be the sole partner and recipient of Whole Foods Oakland’s Nickels for Non-Profits Program. Until January 15, 2017 every time a customer checks out at Whole Foods (230 Bay Place, Oakland, CA 94612), they have the option of donating their 5-cent reusable bag credit to Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project. It has never been easier to support local people and the planet!

Scrambling to find the perfect gift this holiday season? Why not the gift of love, hope, and inspiration to our Oakland community and to your friends and family?

Here are a just a few ways you can spread love, warmth, and delicious food while supporting ANV’s efforts to help Oakland youth save money for education, reconnect with nature, and get their hands dirty farming…

(2) Personalize you page and your connection to ANV – why do you love about ANV and what are you going to do to help raise funds for ANV? Will you run a marathon? Will you host a dinner? Or will you just ask your friends and family to give generously to something you love? Or click on one of the other fundraisers’ pages here, here, or here to see how they are standing with ANV.

(3) Use the social media “Share” button to tell your networks about your fundraising campaign and how you need their support to reach your goal. Call and email friends and family and be sure to share the summary from your page and the link to donate.

ANV is proud to announce they will be the sole partner and recipient of Whole Foods Oakland’s Nickels for Non-Profits Program. Until January 15, 2017 every time a customer checks out at Whole Foods (230 Bay Place, Oakland, CA 94612), they have the option of donating their 5-cent reusable bag credit to Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project. It has never been easier to support local people and the planet!

Happy Holidays from ANV! You may already read our emails and our letter calling on you to celebrate five years of Acta Non Verba (#5YearsofDeeds) by being with us as we “Stand, and Be True”, a favorite quote of mine from Stephen King’s Dark Tower series and a timely theme that speaks to me of what we, as individuals, as a community, and as a nation must do.

We know you are stretched this year – there are many important causes and amazing organizations deserving your money, time, and support. We are privileged to collaborate with some of them including Hope Collaborative, Project Access, and Communities for a Better Environment – please check them out. We are all in this together and more powerful for it.

With your belief in our vision, your conviction in our mission, your deeds and words, ANV will continue to host our seasonal holiday camps, provide healthy produce where there is little access, bring kids out into nature, hire from a community where jobs are scarce, pay living wages to our staff, and, most importantly, resist against hate, exploitation, and inequity in all of its forms. We will nurture every child we encounter, knowing each has the same potential as any one of us. And that our dedication to exposing our children to a myriad of positive experiences will unlock their inherent power. The power to Stand. And Be True.

I wish I were a poet. To be able to express myself in a way that you all could visualize what I have seen the last 5 years.

The sadness and the joy the danger and the bravery. The persistence of LIFE and innovation and the tenacity and perseverance in our community.

I wish I were a better storyteller. To share with you the amazing stories of our youth and where they come from and where they hope to go. The changes they want to make and their ferocious protectiveness of their families. Their drive to be good and do good.

I wish I were a writer. To give you pages and pages of the chronicles of the work it’s taken to get ANV to this point. The people we’ve met. The partnerships and donors we’ve cultivated. The folks just like you and me who want this country, this community to be based in Truth. Justice. Freedom for all.

I would tell you about our Staff, Board, and volunteers who exemplify those values we all hold dear.

I wish I were a poet. I would weave together stanzas of the bravery and hope in our community to stand up in the face of adversity, racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, inequity, and ableism. While “Deeds, Not Words” is our name and vision, Stephen King’s ubiquitous line: “Stand, and Be True” is the beating heart of who we are.

The rhymes, the cadence, the sounds to express the strong, steady beat of that heart escape me though. But our work marches on – we will continue to host our seasonal holiday camps, provide healthy produce where there is little access, bring kids out into nature, hire from a community where jobs are scarce, pay living wages to our staff, and, most importantly, resist against hate, exploitation, and inequity in all of its forms. We will nurture every child we encounter, knowing each has the same potential as any one of us. The power to Stand. And Be True. To effect Deeds, Not Words.

Sadly, I am not a poet. Instead, I am grateful. And humbled by the love and trust you and our community places in me and ANV.

These past 5 years have gone by in a blur. It is only now, in this moment that I can sigh and say… to all of you, my loves: Thank you. I see you. I appreciate you. We thank you.

Keep resisting. I’m here with you. I believe in you.

If you believe in ANV, in me, in our community, and our potential, please donate today to ensure the next #5YearsofDeeds. Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing more stories of how far we have come and our vision for the next five years – feel free to share your own stories about ANV and your dreams for our future on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project (ANV) is proud to announce they will be the sole partner and recipient of Whole Foods Oakland’s Nickels for Non-Profits Program. From today, September 26, until January 15, 2017 every time a customer checks out at Whole Foods (230 Bay Place, Oakland, CA 94612), they have the option of donating their 5-cent reusable bag credit to Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project. It has never been easier to support local people and the planet!

Funds from Whole Food’s generous partnership will support ANV’s programs like Camp ANV and ANV After-School Program, which offer vital services in education, child care, economic empowerment, financial literacy, and access to healthy food to a community sorely lacking in these areas. ANV’s programs have inspired over 3,000 local, at-risk youth and families to focus on nutrition, sustainable living, and activities that promote wellness and improve the quality of life in the neighborhood through our farm and programming. For more information about ANV, how to enroll your children in our programs, or how to get involved, go to www.anvfarm.org.

Oakland, CA – Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project (ANV), working with Project Access and U.S. Bank, have launched a new initiative to provide savings accounts and financial education workshops for Oakland youth participating in ANV’s Camp ANV (seasonal camps during Oakland Unified School District breaks) and ANV After-School Program (in partnership with local partner Project Access).

Because children with savings accounts are six times more likely to go to college, according to a Washington University in St. Louis study, ANV, U.S. Bank, and Project Access are helping youth begin to save now to build assets and chart a better educational future. The initiative will focus on youth living in low-income neighborhoods in Oakland served by Acorn-Woodland and Encompass local schools, where 99 percent of students qualify for free and reduced school lunches. Only 60 percent of residents in the corresponding zip code are high school graduates or higher and only 7 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Camp ANV and ANV After-School Programs serve low-income African-American, Latino, and other children ages five to13, offering vital services in education, child care, economic empowerment, financial literacy, and access to healthy food to a community sorely lacking in these areas. Produce from ANV’s quarter-acre farm, located in the City of Oakland’s Tassafaronga Park, is planned, planted, harvested and sold by youth in grades K-8. One hundred percent of the proceeds from ANV’s farm sales will be placed into savings accounts for the benefit of youth who participate. In addition, youth in the program will be part of financial education workshops (in both English and Spanish) presented by U.S. Bank during Camp ANV. The bank will also host introductory workshops on June 10 and July 15 for parents and guardians on the benefits of saving and how to establish an account for their child who participates in the program.

For more information about Camp ANV, how to enroll or additional program details, go to www.anvfarm.org/camp.

###Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project (anvfarm.org) elevates life in the inner-city by challenging oppressive dynamics and environments through urban farming in Oakland, CA. Their unique approach to social, environmental, and economic justice and equity was honored by President Barack Obama in 2014.

Project Access (project-access.org) is the leading provider of vital on-site health, education and employment services to low-income families, children and seniors. Their goal is to help keep family members employed, children in school, and seniors active.

U.S. Bancorp (“USB”), with $429 billion in assets as of March 31, 2016, is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States. The Company operates 3,129 banking offices in 25 states and 4,954 ATMs and provides a comprehensive line of banking, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. Visit U.S. Bancorp on the web at www.usbank.com.

Summer is here, which means its time for Camp…and also delicious summer cocktails.

Please join Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project for a FUN evening of drinks and food as we guest bartend to support Camp ANV on June 23 from 6-9PM at Spats at 1974 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, California 94704. Help us reach our summer fundraising goal of $15,000 to help low-income kids in Oakland access nature, learn to farm, maintain academic skills, and start saving for college.

Spats/Tonic Nightlife Group will be donating ALL Bar tips on June 23 from 6-9PM to support Acta Non Verba so please TIP BIG to our guest bartenders, including Founder/Executive Kelly Carlisle!

Background on Camp ANV:
You support will ensure enriching programming for low-income youth during the crucial summer school break when many parents can’t afford camps or summer learning programs and are forced to leave children home alone. According to the New York Times, “most kids lose math skills over the summer, but low income children also lose, on average, more than two months of reading skills — and they don’t gain them back. That puts them nearly three years behind higher income peers by the end of fifth grade, and the gap just keeps getting wider. Researchers credit the summer slide for about half of the overall difference in academic achievement between lower and higher income students.”

No child is turned away for lack of funds. We charge a sliding scale so all can attend. Other camps in the East Bay charge more than $1,300 per youth per week. Our camp only costs $1,400 per youth for 8 full weeks, including daily, healthy meals cooked on site, and, over the past four years, we secured funding, in-kind donations, and unique volunteer opportunities to provide Summer Camp ANV at low or no cost to our working families.

We open savings accounts for the kids. Because children with savings accounts are six times more likely to go to college, according to Washington University in St. Louis, we help our participants start building assets and empower them to chart a better educational future, as all profits from camp sales are deposited into individual savings accounts that can only be used for educational purposes

Kids approach nature with new eyes at Camp ANV through activities like African drumming, photography, growing culturally-specific produce on the farm, and Talking Sticks, an African-American rhythmic art form, led by local, expert men and women of color who inspire our kids to pursue new career paths.

Just three weeks ago, these amazing women were voted in as Acta Non Verba’s Executive Board Co-Chairs. Last year, they joined the group of dedicated and talented individuals that make up ANV’s Advisory and Executive Boards. Today, they’re ready to help lead ANV to new heights.

Kelly: Hey Kaiyah, it’s the holidays so we should talk about why we are grateful to ANV and the communities we serve. Our work has taught us so many things abut ourselves and each other – and what community means to us and our campers.

Kai: Sure, I guess… But you know, I’m more of an “Acta” not a “Verba”. Hehehe

Kelly: *Rolling eyes* Right. Ok, so let’s talk it out. What are some things we’ve learned?Kai (above left): I learned how similar people are to plants. Like their basic necessities. They need to feel comfortable and their behavior like, if you don’t pay attention to them they might die. But if you pay them a lot of attention, they will be fruitful and prosper.

Kelly: I get what you’re saying though… I’ve learned that YOU are a lot like a garden plant. I have to pay you a LOT of attention to make sure you are fruitful and prosper! That’s why I hire community members that know how to speak “kid” and give the attention the kids need to have and learn.

Kai: I am grateful for all of the good lessons I’ve learned from ANV. Like gardening is so much more than a chore or a hobby it has a meaning and the meaning is life so, I would say that ANV has taught me the meaning of life. But really, I learned that you’re more than just a mommy to me… You’re also a mommy to tomatoes and basil and greens… and other kids too.

Kelly: Yeah, sometimes I feel like I’m spread thin… but I know how important it is for kids to know not only where food comes from, but also that there is a place in the neighborhood where they are safe and can play without worrying about what’s happening outside our programs. I’ve learned that it really does take a village to make sure that every child has their best chance at having a good life.

Kai: I learned that I am more responsible than most adults think I am. Adults think that I’m just a little girl… Like, I can’t really do anything. But, when I’m farming, I can take care of a plant. And I don’t care what people think about me. It honestly empowers me, as a person. It makes me feel like I’m making a change in the community and I might be a little kid, but I know how to do this. I know how to grow food that my community can eat and grow strong!

Kelly: Yes! Seeing kids grow up and learn how to work with plants and community and have fun doing it inspires me too! I feel so great when kids are able to show their parents around the farm and how much pride they show in their accomplishments makes me so happy!